Can you call JD Vance a fascist and Alice Weidel a Nazi?

Lately, I have noticed how lightly people slap “fascist” or “Nazi” on anyone they dislike, exemplified by JD Vance and Alice Weidel (Afd) lately. Sure, free speech means you can say it—but should you? And what is the potential harm in doing so?

My frustration boils down to two issues. First, these labels kill real discussion. These terms are so emotionally charged that they shift focus from a person’s ideas or actions to a simplistic stereotype. Call Vance a fascist or Weidel a Nazi and you can skip right past their immigration and economic ideas. When instead we should ask: 1) what are the underlying problems that make these ideas become increasingly popular and 2) given this proper understanding, are these ideas going to address them in a good way. That requires a lot of nuance, not name-calling.

Second, overusing them dilutes their historical significance. Fascism and Nazism aren’t just buzzwords—fascism locked down Mussolini’s Italy, banning parties and ruling everything from 1922 to 1943 (Britannica). Nazism, Hitler’s twist, ran on Aryan supremacy and the Holocaust, crushing democracy with violence from 1933 to 1945 (Britannica). If every nationalist is a “fascist” or “Nazi,” what’s left for actual tyrants who jailed dissenters or gassed millions? It also clouds current discourse, making it harder to spot real dangers when critique becomes hyperbole.

These terms carry heavy baggage, so if you’re throwing them at Vance, Weidel, or anyone, you should be able to prove it—full-on, not just cherry-picked quotes. Fascism and Nazism mean crushing dissent, racial purges, or torching democracy. Match that bar, and the case should be obvious.

Can’t explain what they mean? Don’t use them. For a short time they can work to silence the opposing view. But when “fascist“ or “Nazi“ becomes “person I do not like”, that vagueness will eventually destroy any attempt at valid critique. Because at some point the pendulum will swing the other way, where the “accused” can play victim, rally their crowd, and flip the script while you’re stuck with an empty word. Knowing the terms—centralized control, genocide, total power—keeps you honest and forces the argument to stay sharp.

Nothing is black or white. This demands open-mindedness and humility, plus an open marketplace of ideas where critique and nuance is the norm.